Pill prices: South Melbourne, Berwick chemists charging up to three times more for medicine
Patients in Melbourne’s south are paying significantly more for vital medications depending on where they live thanks to laws preventing discount chemist opening in certain suburbs. See the results of our price check.
Inner South
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Customers in Melbourne’s south are paying up to three times more for prescription drugs depending on where they live, a Leader investigation has found.
Prices for 10 of the most prescribed medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including those used to treat diabetes or depression, were compared across eight pharmacies in South Melbourne, Caulfield South, Carrum, Springvale, Cranbourne, Berwick, Frankston and Phillip Island.
The survey revealed the cost of Amoxicillan – one of the most common antibiotics in Australia – was more than three times higher in South Melbourne than in other southern suburbs.
While the cost of Escitalopram antidepressant 20mg was more than double the cost in Berwick than in neighbouring areas.
Pharmacists in Greater Dandenong were unwilling to reveal all the prices of their most popular prescription medications.
But a dispenser at Springvale’s Windsor Avenue Pharmacy who did not want to be named, said the chemist sold Amoxicillan 500mg for $5.60.
“That’s the concession price. We charge mainly concession prices. We have to, to match Chemist Warehouse,” he said.
Chemist Warehouse chief executive Mario Tascone said laws forbidding new chemists from opening within 1.5km of existing businesses worked to stifle competition, particularly in regional areas.
The same rules also banned supermarkets from selling prescription drugs and meant any new pharmacy must be located within 500m of a full-time prescribing medical practitioner and a small supermarket, or within 500m of a large supermarket.
The Pharmacy Guild justified the anti-competitive rules by claiming they were needed to ensure a “well-distributed network to dispense PBS medicines”.
But a Chemist Warehouse survey found last year that 65 per cent of people had travelled to another town to visit a pharmacy, while more than 85 per cent drove as far as 50kms because of pricing.
“They should be relabelled ‘stop Chemist Warehouse’ rules,” Mr Tascone said.
A survey by Bastion Insights found more than four in 10 (43 per cent) people never compared prices when shopping for medicines, while 39 per cent sometimes compared prices and only 15 per cent always compared prices.
Rosuvastatin 20mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $8.99
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $17.99
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $12.50
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less. $11
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $23.20
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $11.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $11.50
Atorvastatin. 40mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.99
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $13.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $11.80
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $7
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $14.99
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy,$8.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $8.95
Esomeprazole. 20mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $8.99
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $14.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $13.30
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less $11
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $24
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $9.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy,$10.50
Pantoprazole. 40mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.99
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $13.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $10.30
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $9
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $20
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $8.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $10.50
Perindopril. 5mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.99
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $12.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $9.95
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $9
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $20
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $8.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $8.95
Cefalexin. 250mg,
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.60
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $11
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $8.80
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $8
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $14
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $7.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $9.95
Amoxicillin. 500mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.60
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $10.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $8.80
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $8
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $17
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $6.46
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $9.95
Amoxicillin + clauvanic acid antibiotic 500mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $6.49
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $13.90
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $10.80
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $20.20
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $8
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $8.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $9.95
Escitalopram antidepressant 20mg,
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $5.60
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $13
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $10
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $12.99
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $7.00
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $7.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $7.95
Metformin. 1000mg
Frankston, Nova Discount Pharmacy, $7.49
South Melbourne, Terry White Chemmart, $22.40
Carrum, Carrum Pharmacy, $14
Berwick, Eden Rise Pharmacy, $13.90
Cranbourne Central and Keysborough South, Pharmacy 4 Less, $12.00
Caulfield South, Nova Pharmacy, $9.99
Phillip Island, Cowes Pharmacy, $9.95
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